Chaos and Caramel Eyes
by taylortot
Summary: Riza has taken a short leave of absence from work and it results in a catastrophic office setting that has swallowed everything. Not to mention the hole it put in Roy's poor heart. One-shot.


"If you gotta take a piss, chief, go for it."

Roy looked up at Breda who stood there with a raised eyebrow as he placed another stack of papers on the colonel's desk.

"My private needs are not your concern," Roy snapped, though he couldn't make his leg stop twitching. It wasn't that he had to use the bathroom; that problem was easily taken care of and he'd never have let the need get so bad that his leg jumped.

No, this was an issue that left the office in disarray, a problem that ensured widespread chaos across the entire room. Paperwork was getting turned in after deadlines, documents were placed in the wrong files, phone calls went unanswered and lunch breaks were disorganized. For the past week, Roy Mustang had watched his subordinates run around the office trying to get the job done the right way. At first, it was entertaining and he was as laid back as ever; now, his patience was running thin and his twitching leg and disheveled hair were two prominent products of the anxiety of falling behind.

"Right," Breda said. "These are from the secretaries. Don't know what the hell they're about though." He motioned to the papers he gave to Roy and shrugged unhelpfully.

Roy groaned and leaned away from his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose as he screwed his eyes tight against the muddled state of his own office. "Go do something useful," he muttered.

Breda saluted his superior lazily and wandered back over to his desk.

"I can't find my glasses!" Fuery was saying frantically.

"Well, where did you last put them?" Falman asked.

"Your glasses? My smokes are missing!" Havoc exclaimed, papers rustling. "Let's get our priorities straight, men."

Roy slammed his fist down on his desk, unable to take anymore. "All of you; go eat lunch." The room froze and all men turned their eyes to the colonel who was only barely repressing his annoyance and frustration.

"But we just had lunch, sir," Fuery replied in a tiny voice.

"I don't care. Get out," Roy insisted, pointing at the door, glaring at his men. "Go home. Just leave."

"We'll fall even more behind," Havoc tried cautiously, doing a fantastic job at concealing the smirk at the corner of his lips. He knew exactly why the colonel was so wound up and it amused him when he wasn't flailing around trying to get work done. Who knew that the blonde haired, caramel eyed lieutenant was such stable stipulation of this office? Without her things were apocalyptic, and Havoc was finding it funnier than hell.

Especially where the colonel was concerned. Even now, looking at the tense line of his superior's shoulders and the scowl on his face, Havoc couldn't help but snidely think Mustang just needed to get laid.

"I don't even know if that's possible, Havoc," Roy snapped. The men started to retreat out the door when he glanced sideways at his alchemy gloves - they were about the only things that weren't lost in the mess of the office and for good reason. The lieutenant would shoot him in the leg if he misplaced yet another pair - and they worked extremely well for intimidation purposes.

"See you tomorrow, boss," Havoc said with a wink as he left the room.

Roy growled once the door was shut and silence fell over the room; he looked about in distress at the sloppy piles of paper and felt his anxiety increase. His eyes slipped shut as he cradled his head in his hands and finally - _finally_ - allowed his mind to drift to her.

He couldn't allow himself to think about her when there was work to do in the office, especially since he had to keep an eye on his men. This wasn't normally a problem since she was always by his side in the office; but she had decided to take a well-deserved vacation and filed for a two week leave of absence five days ago. He understood that; didn't even fight it, either.

But he missed her. He missed the way she would tap his hand when he stopped working on the files before him. He missed that firm line of her mouth and the sternness in her caramel eyes and the way the light shone on her yellow hair. The way her boots sounded when they tapped the floor as she walked, the feel of the air when she strode passed him, that faint whiff of strawberries that clung to her hair.

And it wasn't just that he missed her but that the office did as well. Roy opened his eyes and groaned as he stole another glance around the room; she was definitely going to kill him for the mess. It would take days to get organized and because she was the only one who seemed to know what she was doing, the burden would be hers. He hated that; hated that not only did his soul revolve around her, but so did his place of work. It wasn't fair to her that he was so dependent.

Leaning back in his chair, he checked the time on the wall. She would be out walking Black Hayate right about now, through her usual path that cut directly across the park just a few streets over before looping back around to her apartment complex. His skin itched at the thought of seeing her again after a week and before he knew what he was doing, he clocked out of the office and hurried out into the street.

::::

He barely made it in time. Roy was just taking a seat on the park bench when a bark cut through the buttery summer air and a stern voice reprimanded the dog.

"No, Hayate."

Roy grinned and rose to his feet, turning around to face her as she approached. Of course she saw him immediately; she had the eyes of a sniper and noticed every little movement in the air around her. He watched as those caramel eyes widened and the happy dog trotted along side her, panting as he approached Roy.

The colonel bent down as she came to a stop in front of him and patted the dog on the head gently. "Hey pup," he said with a smile.

"What are you doing here, Colonel?" she asked abruptly, her voice taking on a worried tinge that only he could hear. "Is something wrong?"

He straightened out of his crouch and took her in slowly. A pair of sturdy boots. A black skirt that brushed just below her knees. A white button-up blouse with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, the last few buttons open to expose the gentle curve of her throat. Her hair loose down her shoulders, bangs hanging in her eyes. As happy as he was to see her, a smile didn't curl at his mouth - though he did find his gaze lingering on her lips, shining slightly with a sheen of chapstick.

"Not at all," he murmured, hardly hearing his own words even as he spoke. "Just taking a stroll in the park; what's so wrong about that?"

Her eyes skimmed him up and down swiftly. "You're in uniform, sir. It doesn't appear leisurely in the slightest."

"I came straight from work, then," he told her.

"Your apartment is between Command and the park." Damn it, she was calling him out on everything.

"What are you suggesting then, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing, sir. What you do outside of the office is your business." Riza was doing a good job of keeping her confusion from her eyes, but Roy knew that her curiosity wouldn't die down. He took a step closer to her and Hayate sat down next to her leg, peering up at both adults with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"It is my business," Roy said seriously, taking yet another step toward her. "But as my personal assistant, perhaps it's imperative that you know."

She looked away over her shoulder, though she made no move to back away. Her eyes focused on a couple of kids playing with a frisbee several yards away and she tried her hardest not to feel the air shift and vibrate with Roy's energy. "Whatever you feel is necessary, sir."

"I miss you."

She felt her eyes widen marginally and her breath was suddenly seized from her lungs, but she was still the perfect picture of calm. She knew that she was an important aspect of his life because she was the one to preserve it, but he knew he was talking about more than just that. "You're going to get us in trouble, Colonel."

"No we won't," he said slowly as his chest brushed against her shoulder slightly. "You're my subordinate, and my most precious one at that. I miss you. There's nothing wrong with that."

Riza's hand tightened around Hayate's leash and she took in a deep breath as she stepped away from Roy. His proximity was messing with her head and it was an uncomfortable feeling when they were out for other people to see. "Sir, have you consumed alcohol today?"

He frowned at her. "Lieutenant."

She smiled at him slightly. "Sorry, sir, you're right. That was out of line."

"That's not it at all," he shook his head. "Hawkeye - "

"I need to be going," she said abruptly, stepping around him. "Dinner isn't going to cook itself." Hayate yipped and stood, following his owner as she began to walk away. Roy frowned, wishing he had been able to word things properly; he always was an idiot when it came to her.

She paused after taking a few steps. "Aren't you coming, Colonel?"

::::

Riza adjusted her collar as she walked through the doors of Command and headed for the colonel's office. It would be nice to be back at work after that much needed time off; she felt refreshed and ready to handle anything the childish men she worked could throw at her.

Her optimistic attitude vanished when she opened the office door and saw the utter chaos of the office. Her mind went blank and she couldn't form a coherent thought, her eye twitching as she tried to understand what she was looking at. The men were all frozen to the spot, faces ranging from wary to terror. Behind them all, sat Roy at his desk, smiling uneasily at her.

"Er. Welcome back, Hawkeye."


End file.
